


Keeper

by LazyWallaby938576 (JaydynBear5676556)



Series: Over The Sea And Across The Stars [1]
Category: Wander Over Yonder (Cartoon)
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Angst, Drama, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Sibling Bonding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:08:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 9,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26823418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JaydynBear5676556/pseuds/LazyWallaby938576
Summary: Sylvia raises and goes through the struggles of keeping a one-year-old boy and keeping him safe.
Relationships: Hater & Wander, Lord Hater & Commander Peepers (Wander Over Yonder), Lord Hater & Sylvia Zbornak, Wander & Sylvia Zbornak
Series: Over The Sea And Across The Stars [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1956484
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Wander Over Yonder belongs to Craig McCracken and Disney.

Sylvia carried the little baby in her arms as she walked through the forest. The leaves high above her head as they barely blocked the rain from her head and keeping her hair dry. Her clothes already covered in muck from the walk through the swamp. Walking on fallen trees did nothing from keeping her bounty hunter clothes clean. The baby boy was no better, sniffling as Sylvia carried him and keeping her tucked away in her arms. The inn, The BOOK AND THE CLUB, was only four to five more miles. _Crap._ Sylvia had stopped walking and the baby boy cooed curiously at her. Sylvia had forgotten, she had forgotten everything that the nice lady had told her all the way back in Yhin. 

Sylvia's stomach growled, she was hungry, so hungry. And the little baby's stomach growled too. She stopped walking and sat down. She knew it was stupid to do so, but her feet hurt so much. The baby boy cooed again, this time in worry for his caregiver. 

"I'm sorry kiddo, I'm hungry too. And I don't know if you're weaned from your mother's milk. I'm so sorry." Sylvia apologized to the baby. 

"K." Was the only thing that left the child's mouth. "K." 

Sylvia guessed that meant, 'okay' for a one-year-old human child. At least he didn't know how to yell at her yet, well in a way that Sylvia could completely understand the child. Sylvia pulled back the part of the dark blue blanket that Sylvia had found with him that covered the boy's hair. It was starting to grow longer, reaching his ears. His orange curley hair blew in the cold temperature wind along with Sylvia's blue and pink hair.

The baby yawned and his small hands grabbed onto the blanket and his eyes closed. Sylvia's feet didn't hurt anymore by the time the boy fell asleep. Standing up, Sylvia finally started walking the long walk once again to THE BOOK AND CLUB. At least she didn't have a crying baby alerting the wolves this time.


	2. Chapter 2

"Finally!"

Sylvia felt like was about to pass out by the time she reached THE BOOK AND CLUB. Wander was thankfully still asleep and the sun was rising over the horizon and the light started to shine on the building. The building reminded her of a castle. It was pink, not the shade of pink that matched Sylvia's hair, but it was pink. The sound of gears turning came from way above. Sylvia looked up to see a bird come out of a wooden door in the middle of a gigantic clock. **9:22 A.M** could be seen under the clock on a screen that reminded Sylvia of a alarm clock screen. 

"Work time!" 

"Time for work!" 

Sylvia was bumped into by three other people. She held on tightly to the baby and she glared at the people who had bumped into her. The gigantic doors opened and Sylvia took it as a chance to run in before they closed.

"Good morning!" 

Sylvia jumped at the voice that still echoed in the room. She looked past the three men to see a woman. She had chestnut frizzy hair that hung awkwardly over a anguished face. Her bulging grey eyes watched as the three men walked off to do their duties. And those same grey eyes settled on Sylvia and the infant that rested in her arms. 

"Good morning, what can I do for you?" The lady asked. "And your son." 

Sylvia looked up at the baby who was now awake and cooing away. "Son? No, no, he's my little brother." 

The older woman smiled. "What's his name?" 

"Wander, his name is Wander." Sylvia quickly answered.

The older woman still had her smile. "A nice name for a little boy."

The woman walked over to a desk and took out a book. She opened it and showed it to Sylvia. Moving Wander to just being held in her left arm, she signed under some guy named Evan with the date of August 1st next to his sloppy handwriting. With the woman keeping her smile, she closed the book. 

"I hope you have a wonderful stay at The Book And Club!" 

* * *

_Wander....oh dear grop, what was I thinking?!_ Sylvia woke up after a good ten hour of sleep. Wander was in a crib that the owner, who she soon found out her name to be Keina Ander, set up for the infant. The baby boy giggled as he watched as Sylvia stare at him. _Who in fucking hell names a human baby boy Wander?_ Sylvia scolded herself even more. 

"Sylvia!" 

Sylvia sat up right then and there after Wander said that. _Did he see me write my name?_ Sylvia smacked herself. _Babies can't read you idiot! Not until they turn five!_ Sylvia pulled the blanket off and walked over to the crib. Sylvia pushed her bangs back and picked Wander up. 

"Sylvia! Sylvia! Sylvia!" Wander chanted.

_Smart baby, my last name might give ya some trouble, but you could probably pronounce it by the time your two. Well, if you're still with me by the time you're two._ Sylvia thought. The boy started to play and twirl the long hair that belonged to Sylvia. 

"Sylvia!" Wander said her name once again. Sylvia smiled and bumped their foreheads together. 

"Yeah Wander, I'm Sylvia." Sylvia sat back down on her bed. "And you're Wander, and you're going to be staying with me for a while until we find your mama and papa, okay?" 

Wander nodded his head in response. "K, Sylvia!"


	3. Chapter 3

"Mrs. Sylvia?" 

Sylvia quickly redressed herself after taking a nice hot shower once she heard Keina's voice. She pulled the sky blue shirt over her head, the dark blue shorts were pulled up and she tucked the shirt in. She walked out of the bathroom to see Wander sucking his right thumb. Just like Sylvia, Wander had gotten clean from the muck from the swamp and forest and was wearing a orange T-shirt and just a diaper. 

"Door!" Wander removed his thumb from his mouth. Sylvia walked over to the door and opened it to see Keina standing there.

"Good morning Mrs. Sylvia!" Keina smiled. "I would like to ask you something."

Sylvia tilted her head. "What is it?" 

"I would like for you to work for me." Came Keina's answer. 

"Ma'am...I can't, I'm not staying here forever. And I have a little boy that I have to return to his parents." Sylvia replied to Keina. 

Keina still kept her smile and took a few steps into Sylvia and Wander's room. She glanced over at Wander who cooed at her once he saw the inn's owner. Keina walked closer to the youngest human being in the room and ran her hand through his orange curley hair. 

"It'd be a shame if David and Molly found out that their only remaining child died because a complete stranger didn't keep him safe." Keina said when her hand left Wander's hair. 

"David and Moll-" 

"In jail for the rest of their life for the murder of Wander's older sister, Melissa." Keina cut the younger woman off. "Last time I saw Melissa was a year ago. Nice girl, would be 10 this year."

Sylvia walked over to the bed herself and took Wander into her arms. And Keina only smiled at her in response Sylvia started to back away until she was grabbed tightly by the arm by Keina. 

"Work for me and you can keep your 'brother' safe. Work for me, you get enough money to buy your own place one day." Keina offered.

Sylvia looked down at Wander who looked up at his caregiver while still sucking on his thumb. The money part of the offer sounded nice, but working for Keina didn't sound so nice. _How does she know so much? How does Keina know so much about Wander's family? And why...why would Wander's parents kill their own daughter?_

"Fine." Sylvia brought Wander farther away from Keina. "But you stay away from Wander, work hours and off work hours."

Keina nodded with her smile growing bigger. "Good, you start at nine tomorrow morning." 

Keina left the room after that. Sylvia sighed and walked over to her bed and laid down. She sat Wander down on her belly and the baby babbled happily. Sylvia sighed again and looked into Wander's eyes. 

"What have I done Wander?" Sylvia asked, as if the infant could give her a answer, or advice. "What have I done?"


	4. Chapter 4

Just like Keina had said, Sylvia's first shift at THE BOOK AND CLUB at nine in the morning. One of the other employees who went by the name of Glide had let Sylvia use a baby carrier he had on him. From what Glide told her, he bought it for his granddaughter, but she was too big for it. With Wander strapped to her back, Sylvia started her first task of the day and that was cleaning all the rooms on the first floor.

"Dirty!" Wander said as he looked around.

"Yep, sorry bud, but I can't leave you alone, not after what happened yesterday," Sylvia told the baby.

The child returned to his babbling and cooing and Sylvia put the gloves that Keina had given her. She grabbed the broom and started sweeping the trash into the middle of the room. After sweeping the trash into the middle, Sylvia grabbed the dustpan and swept it into the dustpan. _'Nine hours, five days a week with Saturday and Sunday as your days off.'_ Sylvia repeated Keina's words. Sylvia sighed and moved on to the wooden furniture in the room.

"It's going to be a long day." Sylvia murmured to herself. "A long fucking day."

**••••••••••••••••••••••••••**

**Nine Hours Later...**

**••••••••••••••••••••••••••**

"How old are you kid?" Glide asked Sylvia.

Sylvia was struggling to keep herself awake while Wander drank from his bottle. Sylvia sat at a booth while cradling Wander close. Glide sat down across from Sylvia and awaited her answer.

"20."

Glide walked over to the mini-fridge that was in the room for some reason and pulled out a jug of milk. He walked farther away to get a cup and came back with the cup almost filled to the top. He sat it down in front of Sylvia and she started to gulp it down.

"It's a shame that Melissa can't see her baby brother grow up." Glide looked away. "She was so excited to be a big sister."

"How long did she and her parents stay here?" Sylvia asked.

"Nine months, so Molly's entire pregnancy. Keina used to let people stay here for more than a week. But after Melissa's death, she only lets people stay here for three days to a week." Glide answered.

"Well, maybe she's going to let me stay more than a week," Sylvia responded to what Glide said.

"Until you mess up. She'll do everything to make your life miserable, and she won't stop until she succeeds at doing that." Glide took the cup once Sylvia was done. "And by the looks of it, she's not going to stop until she has your boy."

"She's not touching Wander," Sylvia told the older man and pulled Wander closer to herself.

"Well then, you better be careful, kid." Glide warned and got up. "Good night."

Sylvia sighed and turned back to Wander and placed a kiss on the top of Wander's head. "Good night Glide."


	5. Chapter 5

"Sylvia! Paris!"

Sylvia nearly tripped rushing down the stairs, Paris almost did the same which would be really, really, really, bad since he was taller than her. Maybe by an inch or two, but still it would be bad especially with Wander in his carrier. The two reached Keina and saw another woman with her. The other woman had short and blonde crinkly hair, white skin, freckles covered her cheeks, well-spaced green eyes, and a scar covered her red lips which ended at her chin. She wore a grey jacket and the rest of her clothes to matched even her tennis shoes matched her jacket.

"Paris, Sylvia, this is Marina Tabar and she will be working with you two today and for now on with the festival today." Keina introduced the new person.

"Festival?" Sylvia looked at all three of them.

"The Family Day Festival! It's the rest of the week from Monday, August 19th to Friday, August 23rd." Keina answered.

"We celebrate our families and there's a lot of dressing up which is stupid," Paris explained a little more.

"Oh. So we just work?" Sylvia asked.

"No, you can go celebrate if you finish early," Keina answered Sylvia's second question.

Before Sylvia could say anything, the sound of trumpets, saxophones, drums, and flutes made Sylvia jump, and Wander started crying. Grasping the back of Sylvia's blue shirt, the baby boy cried as the loud noise continued. Marina walked over and smiled at the boy who stopped once he saw the other's smile.

"See, all better," Marina said and ruffled Wander's hair.

Sylvia looked from watching the two to see everyone else had left. "You're really good at making a baby happy."

"I have five younger brothers and a lot of practice of making sure they stay happy." Marina smiled at her.

Sylvia herself had brothers as well, but only three. But with her telling Keina and others who came to the inn that Wander was her little brother, she guessed she could call Wander her fourth brother. Sylvia and Marina followed Keina and Paris and once again Sylvia was faced with the swamp.

"Crap gotta walk through this again," Sylvia grumbled.

"Really? I walked down the abandoned highway." Marina said to the other woman.

"Highway?" Sylvia repeated just that single word. She started following Marina. "There's no highway any..."

Sylvia stopped once she saw what Marina was talking about. There was a highway and it did show signs that nobody had driven on it for years. The bigger cracks on the road were what gave Sylvia the clue.

"Hey!" Sylvia looked away from the highway and onto Marina. "You and your kid coming?"

"Yeah, yeah, hold your horses," Sylvia told her. Sylvia looked back to Wander who was busy sucking his thumb while looking right back at his caregiver.

"We go?" Wander asked.

Sylvia let out a sigh. "Yeah bud, we're going."

At least this Family Festival would hopefully keep Sylvia and Wander away from Keina, especially Wander.


	6. Chapter 6

WELCOME TO UL-IX!

POPULATION: 266 _. (Please somebody move here, it's boring.)_

Sylvia snickered at what was faintly written in the sign. She continued walking and looked back as she did to see something else written into the sign. And this time, she could tell that the same person or another person tried to make sure whatever they wrote was in the sign forever.

(Please, PLEASE, somebody new move here, it's been boring since 2003 or something!)

_I wonder if that person regrets doing this. Especially if they were 16 or something._ Sylvia thought as she followed Marina. She started imagining a 26-year-old man or woman coming back and cringing at what they did. Probably even harder if their own teenaged son or daughter found out what his or her parent had done. Sylvia knew she probably would if Wander found that out if Sylvia lived here as a child and she had done that.

"Bad person! They ruin sign, Sylvia!" Wander shouted, he even tugged on Sylvia's hair.

It wasn't that hard of a pull, Sylvia wiggled the back of her hair that Wander had grabbed and wiggled it free. "Yeah, bud, they shouldn't have done that, but that was 10 years ago. We can't do anything about it now."

Wander still glared angrily, still upset about what happened to the poor sign. "Still, they a bad person! Bad, bad, bad, bad!"

Sylvia honestly enjoyed the child's rant, Marina started walking backward just to enjoy the what was going on herself. Soon, they reached the deeper parts of the town and found the others at the entrance of the Family Festival. Sylvia stopped and Marina noticed.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"I'm not going anywhere near Keina, no way in fucking hell." Sylvia glared at Keina.

"Then we wait until she and Paris go in," Marina said.

34 minutes passed and soon Keina and Paris entered. Sylvia sighed in relief and she and Marina ran towards the entrance. THREE DOLLARS PER PERSON. _Three, six, nine, nine dollars._ Sylvia counted. Sylvia took out nine dollars and handed it to the man who was dressed in a black tuxedo.

"Good afternoon ladies and young man." He greeted, he even took Marina's hand and kissed it.

"What a gentleman!" Marina cooed to Sylvia.

"Bleh!" Sylvia gagged while Wander waved at the tuxedo dressed man.

"What's wrong Sylvia?" Marina asked.

"I'm not into that lovey-dovey kind of stuff, sorry Marina," Sylvia replied.

"But you have a kid." Marina retorted.

"He's my baby brother, not my son." Sylvia started to walk farther away from Marina.

Marina just stood there after Sylvia had said that. "I'm going to go find my mom and brothers, see ya, Sylvia."

"Bye, Marina."

**\\\\\\\**

"Higher Sylvia! Higher! Higher! Higher! Higher!"

That was what Sylvia heard as she pushed the boy in the baby swing at the Ul-lx park. Giggling left the one-year-old infant and it got even louder when Sylvia gave him a bigger push than the other pushes. This time, Wander let out a screamed in joy at how high he was going.

"Fun!" Wander told the pink and blue-haired woman.

After a while, Sylvia took Wander out of the baby swing, and she moved him and herself to the slides. Wander was in her lap and she went down the slide. Wander. The baby laughed which made Sylvia laugh a little.

"You're silly!" Sylvia giggled.

"You silly!" Wander repeated.

"No, you're silly!" Sylvia repeated what she had said.

The sound of somebody clearing their throat made Sylvia look away to see Keina standing a little farther away from the two. _Shit._ Sylvia cursed in her mind. Sylvia picked Wander up from her lap and put him back in the baby carrier and walked up the hill. She kept a well enough space between herself and Keina.

"Go find Paris and Marina," Keina told her, it didn't really sound like an order.

_Seriously?_ This is what Sylvia wanted to say, but she didn't feel like hearing or being yelled at by Keina. Sylvia walked out of the park and quickly found Paris with a woman with white shaggy hair that was double braided. The only reason Sylvia even knew it was double braided was that a girl that she went to high school with that she was acquainted with was obsessed with having her hair double braided.

"Paris! Time to go!" Sylvia called.

Paris walked past her with a scowling expression on his face. Sylvia walked towards the entrance of the festival where all the games and events were. That was the most logical place to find Marina. Sylvia passed many people until she reached the games. Marina was excited to play the games, she wanted to win the biggest teddy bear that the ring toss game had as a prize. Sylvia asked around and ended up being informed that the ring toss game was never the west exit of the festival.

Sylvia walked in the direction that she was given and found the ring toss game next to where Peach Pudding, Cashew Cobbler, and Praline Kiwi Pastry was being sold. And when she found the ring toss game, she found Marina. Getting closer and pushing past other people, Sylvia also found the tuxedo dressed man from earlier. And once she found the two, she realized something, on Marina's finger was a ring, an engagement ring.


	7. Chapter 7

Garbage cans were knocked over causing people to look over, some even ran over to help. Keina, the person who had been pushed into trash cans glared up at Sylvia. The panting 20-year-old woman looked away at Marina who was holding Wander while her finacé held her back. Paris was also there and holding his own date back in case Keina went after him or her too. The security had also arrived and Sylvia started to walk over to Marina to get Wander. The next sound, the sound of a gunshot, stayed around longer. Everyone started to panic and run. Sylvia grabbed Wander from Marina and she ran through the space of many of the games and tents that were set up.

"Sylvia?" Wander asked, it sounded like he was crying.

"I-It's okay baby, everything is going to be okay. She's not going to hurt me or you, got it?" Sylvia asked the baby so she knew he understood what he was saying.

"Okay." Wander nodded.

Wander had gotten better at saying 'okay' with Sylvia helping him say it. Sylvia smiled and kept running. She made her way to the entrance and she joined the hundreds of people who were running out. Sylvia saw the police and saw people talking.

"That Keina bitch hit Marina, then that other girl with a baby shoved her in the trash cans!" A man with white wavy hair explained to one cop.

Sylvia heard many other people taking her side, but all she wanted to do was to leave. Leave this planet altogether. Sylvia ran down the abandoned highway that she and Marina had walked on to get to UL-IX. She wasn't going back to The BOOK AND CLUB, she wasn't risking Wander's safety, she wasn't risking her own safety.

Sylvia ran down the hill that led up to the highway and ran right instead of left. Mud splashed onto her shoes and her blue jeans as she ran in the forest.

"House! Sylvia, lookie! House!" Wander shouted.

Thinking the boy was talking about THE BOOK AND CLUB, Sylvia was about to tell him, no, but giving a quick glance at what Wander was still pointing at, and just like Wander had said a house, a big and tall house, in fact, stood not that far away from the two. Sylvia ran over and turned the doorknob and thankfully, it opened. Once inside, Sylvia slammed it closed. She found a couch and pushed it over to the door and it became a barricade. Sylvia took the baby carrier off her back and helped the baby out of the carrier. Sylvia tried to think of anything, just anything to take her mind off of Keina and everything else that happened today. She tiredly looked over to the kitchen and she heard a little ding in her head as an idea came to her. Sylvia back to Wander who was sitting on her belly.

"How about we eat some lunch, kiddo?" Sylvia asked.

"Food!" The baby squealed happily understanding what Sylvia meant.

"Then let's go have lunch."


	8. Chapter 8

**\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\**

**One Week Later...**

**\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\**

"Sylvia!"

Sylvia sat up in her bed that she shared with Wander and looked over at the crying baby. Sylvia scooped the crying boy into her arms and started rubbing Wander's back.

"Shh, Wander, shh, it's okay baby, it's okay. Sylvia's here, big sister is here." Sylvia whispered.

They had gotten to a point even though it's been a week since Sylvia had found the young boy that she was comfortable to call herself the big sister of Wander. Wander looked up at his adoptive sister with teary eyes, but this time he had a smile on his face.

"Love you." Wander said and rest his head on her chest.

Sylvia smiled and kissed the top of Wander's head. "I love you too, buddy, I love you too."

**\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\**

"Sylvia! Lookie! Lookie!"

Sylvia stopped walking and looked at where her adopted younger brother was. She walked over and bent down so she could see what Wander was pointing at. Tadpoles swam around the two humans and Wander laughed and giggled hysterically and started to reach down. Sylvia quickly grabbed his hand and the baby looked at her confused.

"No, no, no, let's leave them be. You don't want to make the mommy and daddy froggy mad, do you?" Sylvia asked.

Wander shook his head and stopped what he was doing. Sylvia honestly forgot if the mother and father frogs stuck around until their frog children could go on land just like them. She just wanted to keep Wander from taking the tadpoles out of the water. The two moved further in the lake that was only 12 feet away from the backyard fence.

"Fishies! Fishies! Fishies!" Wander cried as fish brushed against his two legs.

Sylvia smiled and put Wander down back in the water. She was just enjoying that Wander was exploring the outside of their house and not just in his baby carrier. Soon, they ended up at a pound and more fishes came near the two siblings.

"Look, Sylvia! More fishies!" Wander shouted. "I wanna swim big sis! I want to swim like the fishies!"

Sylvia just shook her head and picked Wander up out of the water. "Sorry, kiddo, I don't have any swim diapers on me."

Wander's eyes widened at his elder sibling. "You're wearing a diaper?! Diapers for babies! Not adults!"

Sylvia sighed. _This kid has a lot of stuff to learn._ Sylvia thought.


	9. Chapter 9

_It's been a week, it's not like Keina's out there waiting for you_. It was 3:00 A.M., and Sylvia laid there awake on the bed. Wander was asleep, curled up close to his big sister. _Sylvia come on! She would've found the house by now!_ Sylvia sighed and wiggled her feet that weren't covered by the purple blanket. _Come on!_ Sylvia sat up and looked at Wander. _She probably thinks you're dead._ Sylvia sighed and got off the bed. She walked over to the dresser that the previous owners had left behind and started looking for new clothes.

Sylvia pulled out a dark blue sparkly dress. She just went with it and headed to the bathroom to put it on. She came out a few minutes later and walked over to a mirror that was in the corner and took a look at the dress. The dress covered her shoulders entirely, her arms were uncovered, no sleeves at all, and the dress ended at her feet. Sylvia moved onto the socks and put on two white socks, then she grabbed her shoes and tied the shoelaces.

Sylvia grabbed the baby carrier and Wander. She put on the baby carrier and put Wander in it. Sylvia moved to the living room and pushed the couch away from the door. Sylvia opened the door and breathed in the outside air. _It's okay, you're going to be okay._

And with that, Sylvia started walking. She didn't know where she was going, she didn't know long she was going to stay wherever she was going, but she would be back. Hopefully, before it got dark again. 


	10. Chapter 10

"Come on Wander, go play."

Wander crawled since he couldn't walk yet. He crawled over to the playground and watched as the other children play. These children were bigger, no gigantic to Wander. He watched as a few girls chase a boy around, and he saw and heard a boy counting for some reason. Wander crawled over to where a bunch of girls was sitting and talking.

"Oh my gosh! Claudia! Claudia! A baby! There's a baby!" A girl with white curly hair that was neatly coiffured to show her violet eyes shouted.

The girl named Claudia, who looked just like the girl who was calling her name but much older, opened her own violet eyes and gave a glance to the male infant. Claudia waved and returned to relaxing against the wooden rails. The younger girl pouted and returned her attention to Wander. The baby crawled up the two steps and made his way to Claudia. Climbing into Claudia's lap just like he would to Sylvia, Wander watched as Claudia reopen her eyes and looked down at him.

"Hey, kiddo," Claudia said to the baby.

"Hello!" Wander cheerfully greeted Claudia.

"Wander?" Wander heard Sylvia call his name.

All the girls except Claudia moved out of the way as Sylvia made her way over. Sylvia reached down and picked Wander up. The boy giggled as he felt Sylvia place a kiss on his right cheek.

"You're his mom?" Claudia asked.

"Big sister." Sylvia corrected.

Sylvia started to walk away and she noticed as the farther they walked away from the park how upset Wander was. She kissed Wander's cheek again, but he didn't smile this time. He glared at his older adoptive sibling.

"Sorry baby didn't realize how close it was to nap time." Sylvia apologized.

"No nappy! Not tired!" Wander angrily protested.

"Yes nap time, sissy's tired and she needs some nap time of her own." Sylvia sternly told the child in response.

Wander crossed his arms. "Fine, we have a nappy time."

Sylvia smiled. "Thanks, little bro."

**X X X**

**Two hours later...**

**X X X**

Naptime ended up being only two hours long. Wander had woken up after declaring loudly that naptime was done. That didn't help at all with Sylvia's four hours of sleep. She carried the young child instead of having him in the baby carrier. It was now 1:00 P.M. and by now, Sylvia's stomach was growling loudly, so was Wander's.

"Hungry." Wander whined. "Hungry."

"I know, buddy, I know, I am too." Sylvia agreed with him.

"Sylvia look! Look, big sis!" Wander shouted at least three minutes later.

Sylvia looked and saw two a table. And on that table, there was a plate of cookies. Sylvia looked around and found nobody standing at the table. Clearly, this was a cookie sell, it would make sense for somebody to be there to make sure people paid. FREE COOKIES is what was written on a yellow poster that two ends of it were taped to the table while the rest reached the ground.

"Cookies!" Wander shouted.

Sylvia grabbed six cookies off the plate leaving 12 behind. Sylvia handed one to Wander and she held the rest and took a bite out of one. _Not really good._ Sylvia thought after chewing the piece of the cookie up. She swallowed and looked at Wander for what he thought.

"Yummy!" Wander told the adult.

_What...how...how does he like this kind of cookie? It's not chocolate chip...its..._ Sylvia shook her head, she shouldn't care about that right now, she got something for her and Wander to eat. Not something that would give either of them a lot of energy, but still.

"Can we go home now?" Wander asked after he finished his cookie. Sylvia nodded, she had nearly forgotten her plans to return to their home before dark as she had planned earlier that day.

"Sure buddy, we'll go home."


	11. Chapter 11

Sylvia's a tired mess when she finally gets herself and Wander home. She just wants to go back to sleep, this time in a nice warm bed. And cuddling with her newly adopted brother. Opening the door, Sylvia closed it and she pushed the couch back over so it was once again barricading the door. When she makes it to her and Wander's room, she takes Wander out of the baby carrier and placed the carrier on the dresser. Sylvia placed Wander on the left like he's always been and tucks Wander in. She got on the bed with the blanket pulled back a bit and eventually tucked herself in. She turned to Wander who was laying on his back and sleeping peacefully. Sylvia pulled Wander close and nuzzled her face into his curly orange hair.

"I love you, baby brother, I know we're not biologically related to you and I know I'll have to tell you one day of what happened to your real sister." Sylvia frowned at the thought of what she would have to tell Wander when he was older. "But just know I'll always love you no matter what." 

Wander turned a little to face Sylvia, but he still had his eyes closed. "I'll always love you, too, big sister." 

Sylvia smiled once again and pulled Wander closer. Slowly, she closed her eyes and joined Wander in sleep. 

X X X

Sylvia made Dried Herbs And Soup the next morning for breakfast. She found a cookbook that the previous owners had left behind. Wander stared at the soup giving the older human a 'do you expect me to eat this monstrosity?' look. Sylvia sighed and started to think of what her mom and dad would do to try to make Sylvia and her brothers try new food. She tried the airplane thing, even getting milk so Wander could drink, and he still refused. 

"Wander, please try some. Please for sissy?" Sylvia pleaded

Wander sighed and took the spoon from Sylvia's hand and put the bowl part of the spoon in his mouth. Sylvia watched as Wander swallowed and ate more of the soup. As she watched, the doorbell rang. She got up from her seat and made sure that Wander stayed balanced while sitting on the stack of books. Sylvia pushed the couch away from the door once she reached the front door. She turned the gold yellow knob and pulled the door open. She looked up to see a tall man, only by an inch or two. It was Paris.


	12. Chapter 12

"Hey!"

Paris was shoved onto the ground. Sylvia stood above him with her shoe pressed hard against his chest. And the man knew he had a limited time before Sylvia critically injured him.

" Keina's not with me! Keina's not with me!" Paris repeated himself, the pressure on his chest increased.

"Sylvia! Stop! Please just stop! Keina's dead! Keina's dead!"

Slowly, Sylvia removed her foot from Paris's chest. "What in fucking hell do you mean Keina's dead?"

"She went to try to find you and the next thing I know is she's dead by a bear attack!" Paris explained.

"Were you there?" Sylvia asked.

"Yes! I mean...no...I mean...I wasn't there during the attack, but I found her after the attack." Paris answered.

"Did you check for her pulse?" Sylvia asked.

"I didn't want to touch her body!" Paris objected to what Sylvia had asked him.

"Then how do you she's 100 percent dead?" Sylvia asked.

"WOULD YOU STOP WITH ALL THESE QUESTIONS?!" Paris screamed. "I JUST LOST MY BOSS!"

"Who is the same person who tried to kill me and Wander!" Sylvia shouted right back to the black-haired man. "Now get away from my house."

"W-What?"

"I SAID GET AWAY FROM MY HOUSE!"

Paris went running and Sylvia went back into the house. Wander looked at his older sister worryingly. Sylvia walked over and took the bowl of now finished Dried Herbs and Soup to the sink and started to wash of what remained.

"Sylvia?" Wander asked. "You okay?"

Sylvia game a weak fake smile. "Yeah, little bro, I'm okay."

Wander held his arms out and Sylvia took it as he wanted to be picked up out of the chair. Instead, he wrapped his arms loosely around Sylvia's neck. Sylvia then felt Wander press a kiss to her right cheek.

"No lying." Wander said. "Lying bad."

Sylvia giggled and nuzzled her head against Wander's head. "Okay, big sis won't lie anymore."

But who knows how long it would be until Sylvia would have to lie again.


	13. Chapter 13

"Binglebopolopolis?"

"Come on, this place?!"

"Aw mom, the city's so pretty!"

Sylvia woke up to the sound of the voices she was hearing. She raised her head and realized that she was on a bus, not in her room, a fucking bus. _Wander...WANDER!_ Sylvia looked around for her little brother and thankfully found him the seat across from hers. Sylvia unbuckled herself and quickly grabbed Wander and pulled him into her arms.

"Oh baby, it's okay, it's okay." Wander was still asleep while Sylvia said this, it was more of reassuring herself.

Sylvia brushed the comb part of her hair back into place with one hand and immediately started looking at everyone else. She couldn't exactly see who was in front of her, but she could see a very tall man with purple hair in the seat before the seat she found Wander. She straightened her body posture and tried to get a look at the bus driver but ended up having no luck with that because of the seats. Wander started crying and Sylvia shushed him.

"It's okay Wander, it's okay little brother." Sylvia cooed.

Wander's crying brought everyone's stares to Sylvia and her adopted little brother. A woman with grey coily hair took off her baseball hat and smacked a man with blonde greasy hair. A young boy, a year older than Wander was what Sylvia had guessed since he only wore a diaper and a dark brown and dark red t-shirt and looked bigger than Wander, poked his head out, and stuck out his tongue. The mother who had her matching dirty blonde hair in a back ponytail smacked her son's back and started scolding her child. _At least it's better than me._ Sylvia thought to herself.

Sylvia placed a kiss on his right cheek and started wiping away the infant's tears. Wander eventually stopped crying, it took three minutes, but he stopped. The bus driver had announced that they were reaching the Binglebopolopolis Station in four minutes. Sylvia relaxed against the back of the seat while still holding Wander. Soon she would be off of the bus and away from some of the people she had already had taken a disliking to. And once she was off the bus, she wasn't going to stop until she found out how the heck she and Wander even got on the bus in the first place.


	14. Chapter 14

"Yeah, the guy who carried you and Wander in the bus looked very angry. He had blood on his blue shirt and said it was from him." The Binglebopolopolis bus driver, Miles Snow told Sylvia as she left the bus. "I just thought you were his girlfriend or something like that. Sorry I didn't ask him about it, Sylvia."

"It's okay." Sylvia didn't want Miles to feel bad. "Thank you so much for getting us here."

"You're welcome, ma'am."

Sylvia walked off the bus steps and onto the bus station platform and watched as Miles pull away and down the street. Wander waved from behind Sylvia's back. Sylvia started to walk away from the stop and soon felt somebody tap her right shoulder.

"Sissy, hungry." Wander whined.

"Hold on buddy, I'll find something or somewhere for us to eat some..." Sylvia stopped to check the time on her phone, it was 12:12 P.M. "Lunch."

_Well, brunch._ Sylvia thought to herself. She found a basket with a bunch of maps in it. THE ONE WAY TO MAKE SURE YOU DON'T GET LOST IN BINGLEBOPOLOPIS! Was what was written in big capital letters once Sylvia grabbed one of the maps that were folded like a pamphlet. _Approved by King Bingleborp_ followed under the picture of nine skyscrapers lined up leaving not a lot of space between the tall buildings. Sylvia opened the map up and started looking for the map key for the restaurants.

**Restaurants Key:**

**The Listing Apple-** **Wilkinson Bridge**

**Revenge and Cove-** **Patterson York**

**Spade and Shoe-** **Hilltop Twist**

**Ugly Mountain Inn-** **Oak Tree Wynd**

**The Deck's Hog-** **Mt Ursula Bypass**

**The Pickled Sunrise-** **Paine Dale**

**The Count's Calf-** **Olympic Channel**

"Which one little bro?" Sylvia asked.

"Apple!" Wander replied, which Sylvia took as the young child meant The Listing Apple.

"Okay, The Listing Apple it is then," Sylvia said.

**• • • • • • • • • •**

**44 minutes later...**

**• • • • • • • • • •**

"Apple Chowder? What the fuck?" Sylvia asked with a lot of disgust at what she had just read in her voice.

"Applesauce!" Wander shouted once his apple pie and his dessert arrived.

"Pie first kiddo." Sylvia reminded.

"Okay." Wander said, a little sad that he couldn't eat his applesauce first.

"We have clam chowder too, Mrs. Zbornak." Their female waiter, Mira, told her.

"Clam chowder, please." Sylvia handed the menu to Mira.

Sylvia had gone child first before the adult. Wander picked up his fork and started eating his pie. Mira came back 12 minutes later with a bowl of clam chowder. Sylvia started eating hers, but something moving outside the window caught her eye. And when she looked at everyone else, all of them were staring at the same thing that Sylvia was looking at, but in horror.

And soon the silence beside everyone's breathing was broken.

"IT'S LORD HATER!"


	15. Chapter 15

"Who the hell is Lord Hater?"

Unfortunately, that question wouldn't be answered by the thousands upon thousands of people running past and into her. Sylvia started running too, more out of curiosity was what was making her run just to see who this Lord Hater guy was. She looked around to see people, at least seven, were running in the direction of The Binglebopolopolis Bus Station. Sylvia followed them and soon arrived back at the station.

"What the heck?" A man behind the glass asked. "People no busses are no running right now!"

_Crap! Crap! Crap!_ Sylvia thought. Wander started to cry in which the man behind the glass became angry and he put a sign that said SORRY, WE'RE CLOSED in big red capital letters. _Seriously?!_ Sylvia thought in anger.

"Walk people." A bald man with green eyes spoke up. "Run if you have to."

Mostly everyone did what he said, Sylvia was one of them. She ran down the road that led up to the bus station. That had to lead her home, she was praying in her head that it led her home. And she and Wander would be away from the chaos that this Lord Hater guy was causing. Wander was still crying and Sylvia felt like Lord Hater would be coming for her any moment now.

"Wander." Sylvia took Wander out of his carrier to be held in her arms. "Wander look at me. We're going to go home. The bad guy's not going to get you or me, okay?"

"Promise?" Wander asked.

"I promise, big sister won't let him anyways," Sylvia promised.

Wander calmed down after she said that and was put back in his baby carrier. Sylvia started running down the road again. _You better not be lying to yourself Sylvia Zbornak. Lie to yourself and you risk yourself and the baby._ Her thoughts made Sylvia run faster, the hope of the road leading to her and Wander's house grew bigger and bigger. And with how big her hope was getting, no was her self-doubt.


	16. Chapter 16

"Sissy, look!"

The shout from Wander made Sylvia look at where her younger adoptive brother was pointed and saw somebody standing a little far away from where she stood. Sylvia looked around and found a stick lying on the ground. Not the perfect weapon, but it would do.

"Hey, are you friendly?" Sylvia asked.

"Are you?" The person who Sylvia could now determine was male repeated her question.

"As long as you don't hurt my brother," Sylvia answered.

Sylvia started to get closer and from where she was standing, he looked shorter than Sylvia. She also had white skin, the little bit of black hair that she could see, and everything he wore was black, including the helmet with a tall lightning rod on his helmet. When she got even closer, she realized that his left eye was covered up by an eye patch.

"Booboo!" Wander looked over Sylvia's right shoulder.

The guy tilted his head before he realized that the baby was talking about his eye. "Oh, that? Don't worry, it's not new. I was born without my left eye."

"How old are you anyway?" Sylvia asked.

"I am 17-years-old." The guy answered.

Sylvia wanted to brag a little that she was three years older than the teen, but she decided not to. "What's your name kid?"

"Peepers." The teen now known as Peepers answered.

Sylvia walked past him and Peepers followed after her. Peepers watched as Wander waved at him and he waved back. Wander was just happy to have a new talking buddy now.

"Are your parents close to where we're going?" Sylvia asked.

"My...My..." Sylvia realized she was talking about a touchy subject.

"Sorry, sorry, so where's your guardian?" Sylvia asked a hopefully new question that wouldn't make Peepers upset.

"If you would kinda consider my boss," Peepers responded.

"Who's your boss then?" Sylvia asked as she walked down the slope that led to the swamp before reaching THE BOOK AND CLUB.

"Lord Hater."


	17. Chapter 17

"Where are Wander's parents?"

It was nighttime and Sylvia had put Wander down for bed. The only thing was, Wander, didn't want to go to sleep. He wanted to stay up with Peepers and Sylvia. It was the second time after when they went to the park that Wander fought against bedtime. Sylvia was exhausted by the time Peepers had asked his question.

"Jail." Sylvia came in with red and white striped pajamas. "They killed Wander's older sister."

"And you've been taking care of Wander for how long now?" Peepers asked.

"Almost two weeks by September 2nd," Sylvia answered and started to clean the dishes. "You don't have any sleeping problems, do you?"

"No ma'am," Peepers answered, but to Sylvia, he didn't look like he was telling the truth.

"Peepers, it's okay if you want one of the lamps to stay on," Sylvia told the teenager.

"No, no, it's not that! It's just I...I just like to have noise going on in the background while I sleep." Peepers quickly corrected her. "I know it's weird but..."

"No, it's okay, it's okay. Do you want the T.V on?" Peepers nodded his head. "Okay, let me just see what's on the T.V then."

Peepers eventually had Sylvia stop on a channel that was playing reruns of old 1990s teen shows and a few early 2000s teen shows. Sylvia went back to the kitchen and finished washing the dishes. She turned the kitchen lights off. Sylvia turned back to Peepers who was busy watching his show.

"Night Peepers."

Night..." Peepers stopped when he didn't know her name.

"Sylvia."

"Night Sylvia."

**X X X**

A loud boom woke Sylvia up. She picked Wander up and ran out of the room and into the living room. Peepers was already looking out the left front window and Sylvia ran over and looked out too. She didn't see anything.

"We need to go." Peepers turned to face the only adult that was with him right now.

"Why? W-What's wrong?" Peepers didn't answer. "Peepers?"

"It's Keina Anderson, she found us," Peepers answered.

Sylvia's heart stopped upon hearing that name. "N-No, she's dead. Paris..."

And once Sylvia realized that she was lied to, the next thing Wander and Peepers knew the right table lamp was in pieces on the wooden floor. "God fucking damn it!"

"S-Sylvia?" Peepers asked.

Sylvia only grabbed Peepers's right hand and lead him out of the house. She didn't stop running until all three of them were out of the forest. By the time she let go, there were red marks on Peepers's wrist from how tight Sylvia had been holding onto it.

"How...how do you know Keina?" Sylvia asked.

"We were stopping for gas and the next thing I know is Lord Hater is telling me and the other Watchdogs to run." Peepers started to explain. "Read more about her when I was in the Binglebopolopolis Library."

"So was Hater there?" Sylvia asked. "People were screaming his name when Wander and I were there."

Peepers shook his head and Sylvia sighed. "Well come on, we're going to be walking until we reach the next city."

As they walked, Sylvia quickly realized she had forgotten something back at the house. Wander's carrier.

"God damn it!"


	18. Chapter 18

"LORD HATER!"

The scream echoed waking Sylvia up instantly. She looked around thinking that Hater was there but only found Peepers was the only one up. And Wander wasn't even up, he still slept close to Sylvia while sucking on his thumb. Sniffling came from Peepers's direction and Sylvia turned to find the teenaged boy curled up and his back towards Sylvia.

"Peepers?" Sylvia scooted closer to Peepers. "Hey, it's okay, it's okay."

"I-If s-she a-actually h-hurt h-him..." Sylvia pulled Peepers closer to her. "I'll kill her! I swear to grop I'll kill her if she hurt Hater!"

Sylvia let Peepers cling to her. She looked back just to make sure no animal had snatched it when they were sleeping and right now in their current situation. Sylvia brushed back Peepers's bangs causing him to look at her with his teary eye.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry for waking you up!" Peepers apologized.

"It's alright, you're scared. You don't want to lose your boss." Sylvia reassured him.

"I shouldn't be letting you deal with somebody like me. Not when you have a little brother you're raising." Peepers sniffled. Sylvia had nearly forgotten that she had made it clear to Peepers that Wander was her adopted little brother.

"Hey look at me Peepers." The teen did as he was told. "I'm not going to let her lay a hand on Hater, okay?"

"But what if she already has? I'm supposed to protect him! He's my leader and I'm his commander!" Peepers shouted, a little too loud for Sylvia's liking.

Wander woke up at that time. "Sissy? Peepers?"

Sylvia pulled Wander over using just one arm. The baby boy crawled over his older sister and over to the boy who was older than him by 16 years. Reaching his arms up, Wander waited, and eventually, Peepers pulled him into his arms. Wander pulled himself up to Peepers's right shoulder and rest his head on it.

"See? Even my baby bro doesn't mind that you woke him up!" Sylvia smiled.

Peepers tearfully looked up at Sylvia with a smile of his own and gave the same smile to Wander. "Thank you, both of you."

"You're welcome, Peepers."

"Welcome!"

Peepers giggled at the one-year-old who he held in his arms. The two oldest sat on the ground while the youngest stayed in Peepers's arms. And one by one, they fell back to sleep.


	19. Chapter 19

"Lamouria? Isn't that place where a lot of couples go?" Peepers asked.

Sylvia shrugged. She hadn't been there because one, she had no boyfriend or girlfriend, and two, she didn't know a lot of cities in America since her mom kept her and her brothers in her hometown during her childhood. They never moved, just stayed in the same room ever since she was born. And it probably wasn't a good place for her to take a 17-year-old and a one-year-old.

"We go there, or we travel up to Alaska to stay in Baaaaa-halla?" Sylvia asked as she fed Wander an apple she picked.

"Lamouria it is then."

**X X X**

"Have you ever thought of having an RV?" Peepers asked as they walked up the road that leads to Lamouria, California.

"No, not really," Sylvia answered.

"Don't you think it's better than walking?" Peepers asked.

Having an RV did sound way better than walking across the state just to find Lord Hater. From what Peepers said, she had a house somewhere between Phunulon and Glendale, California. Sylvia didn't know why she never thought of using an RV before.

"Even if I did get one, I don't think I have enough money for gas and buying food for all three of us," Sylvia told Peepers.

"I took a lot of money from my foster parents a few years ago," Peepers responded to what she said.

"Peepers!" Sylvia shouted in a scolding manner.

"What? They were in it for the money, so I took most of it." Peepers argued.

"How old were you?" Sylvia asked while she adjusted her grip on Wander's bottle and the infant himself.

"12 going on 13. I was on my own for two years until Lord Hater found me. Somebody found my motel room and decided to take advantage since I was short for a 15-year-old boy." Peepers explained to the blue and pink-haired woman. "Hater was just walking around when the lady fired a warning shot. Took me in after the police arrived."

"When did you become his commander?" Sylvia asked.

"Last year on my 16th birthday," Peepers replied.

"Commander Peepers!" Wander sang a little tune once his mouth was free from his bottle.

Peepers grinned at the one-year-old. "Thank you Wander."

"Commander Peepers!" Wander sang again.

Sylvia smiled at both boys. "Commander Peepers!"

Peepers shook his head with a big smile on his face. "Commander Peepers!"

**X X X X X X X**

Three hours later...

**X X X X X X X**

"Sylvia?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you hear that?"

At first, Sylvia wanted to say no, but then she heard it. It was giggling, giggling coming from Wander's room. Sylvia turned down the volume of the T.V so they could hear. _Well here comes another fight against going to sleep for Wander._

"Wander?" Sylvia asked while standing up from the couch.

"Yeah?"

"Sweetie, you have to sleep. We're leaving tomorrow after breakfast." Sylvia called.

"We are?" Sylvia glared at Peepers and he shrunk back on the couch.

"But Lissa's making me laugh! She's making faces!"

Sylvia and Peepers looked at each other.

"Who's Lissa?" Peepers asked.

"Think about it. Melissa, Lissa." Sylvia tried to lead Peepers to a realization. Then the giggling turned into crying.

"Wander?" Sylvia had already made her way to the door by this point.

"Sylvia! Lissa go away!" Wander cried. "Why Lissa go away?"

Sylvia looked at Peepers who was poking his head in. "Lissa had to go away because she has a bedtime too ya know."

"But...But...But..."

"Wander, please, she'll be back in the morning," Sylvia told the boy.

"Okay."

Sylvia stayed in there with her adopted little brother for a few more minutes. When she eventually got the baby asleep, she left the room she looked at Peepers. The older boy didn't say anything, he just followed his temporary guardian to the living room. Sylvia helped him lay down on the couch even though Peepers could do it by himself. She took off his helmet and tucked him in.

"Sylvia?" Peepers watched as she put her phone in sleep mode.

"See you in the morning, Peepers." Was all Sylvia said to the teenager.

Peepers sighed knowing he won't get anything out of her. "See you in the morning, Sylvia."


	20. Chapter 20

"Come on Wander, bath time!"

That's what Wander heard when he woke up the next morning. Sylvia came in wearing her blue shirt and pants. A green towel on her head which had to be fixed after Sylvia had picked him up. Sylvia grabbed a diaper from the bag that the owner of the motel had given her earlier that morning. The owner, Leslie Vargas also put more of her son's old clothes that he wore from when he was one.

Sylvia waited until she got the water at a lukewarm temperature to put Wander in the sink. The now undressed baby watched as Sylvia turned the faucet off and the water stopped coming out of it. Soap covered almost every part of Wander's body, from his hair, his belly, between his fingers, his legs, his feet, and lastly between his toes. Wander started splashing the water soaking himself and Sylvia only a little bit. Sylvia grabbed a cup from the cabinet and turned the faucet on. Water filled the cup and was dumped onto Wander's hair. And then Sylvia did it again to the other soap covered parts of the child's body.

Five minutes passed and Sylvia had Wander washed, a little dried off, and a fresh new diaper on. Wander grabbed onto one of the drawer doorknobs as he stood up and watched as Sylvia clean the rest of the sink from the bubbles.

"Sylvia's gonna be right back Wander, I'm going to go get you some new clothes," Sylvia told the boy.

"Okay!" Sylvia cheerfully replied to what he was told.

Wander watched as Sylvia walk away and turned back to face the sink. Wander looked away from the sink and found something not that far away from him, it was a penny. _Sylvia's penny!_ Wander thought. _Gotta get back to Sylvia!_ Wander looked down at his feet, he still didn't know how to walk yet, he only knew how to talk, stand, crawl, and other things, but not walking. _I'm one now, Sylvia and Peepers can't hold and carry me forever!_ Wander thought. Wander took in a quick breath just to reassure himself and took one step. He closed his eyes and got ready for the impact of immediately hitting the floor. But he didn't fall, when Wander reopened his eyes, he was still standing.

_Hey, this easy!_ Wander thought. He took another step with his left foot and again he didn't fall on his belly. He took four more steps until he reached the penny. He bent down and picked it up. _Now, gotta get it back to Sylvia!_

"Hey, kid whatcha doin'?" Peepers's voice came from behind the boy.

Wander wanted to show Peepers that he could walk now too, so he walked back to where he first saw the penny and showed it to Peepers. Peepers's eye widens which made Wander confused. _Was I not supposed to get Sylvia's penny?_ Wander wondered.

"SYLVIA, WANDER WALKED!"

The suddenly excited scream made Wander stumble a bit, but he regained his balance and watched as the teen run off to Sylvia's room. Wander followed at a much slower pace and ended up at the same destination Peepers had run too. Once Sylvia saw him, she walked over and gave a kiss to Wander's right cheek.

"Good job, sweetie. Soon you'll be running and causing me trouble." Sylvia congratulated the younger child.

"Penny." Wander held out the penny.

"You can keep it as long as you can keep it away from your mouth, okay?"

"Okay!"

Wander let Sylvia put the green and white striped shirt on while still holding his new penny. _My penny._ Wander thought as he and Sylvia followed Peepers out. _All mine._


End file.
